Simunye tickets in Victoria Falls

What the ticket buys

The ticket is an access ticket to Simunye: The Spirit of Africa at the Victoria Falls Theatre. Food and drink are not part of it, and neither are transfers, so think of the show as one hour of theatre inside a longer night out. The Victoria Falls Theatre Company presents the production, and Shearwater Adventures supplies the ticket on Viator. Simunye uses puppetry, dance, music and visuals to tell a single story from start to finish. It is a performance you sit and watch, not a tour: nobody collects you from your hotel, and nobody serves you a meal as part of the price. Wikipedia defines puppetry as theatre that involves the manipulation of puppets.

What you are watching

The production follows Bomani, who is cast out from the Kimba tribe and wanders the African hinterland in search of home, accompanied by his loyal elephant friend, Ndlovu. Mongiwekhaya, whom the booking page calls an acclaimed Handspring puppeteer, directs it, and the performers are local professional artists. The stated message is love and community. That is useful to know before you pay, because it tells you the evening is a story told through movement, song and puppetry, not a dinner show or a lecture about the falls. The production's own site and the booking page use the same four words for its ingredients: puppetry, dance, music and visuals.

Read next: Simunye's story: Bomani and Ndlovu

One option, no tiers

The booking page shows a single option, the standard ticket for the show. There are no seating categories to compare and no dinner package to add, which keeps the decision short: choose a date, choose how many people are coming, and book. What changes from one booking to the next is the night you pick. The calendar shows which dates have seats, and the booking page is the only place that shows the current price. Prices move, so this guide does not quote one, and it is worth looking again on the day you book. There is no seat upgrade to chase and no menu to pre-order.

Which night to book

The production's own site lists performances six nights a week, Tuesday to Sunday, which leaves Monday dark. Open dates and their times are listed in the booking calendar, and your confirmation repeats the time for the night you chose. If your trip is crowded with activities on the falls, pick a night after a lighter day: the show asks for an hour of quiet attention in an open-air theatre. A night in the middle of your stay also leaves room to move your plans around if something else shifts, whether that is a flight, a tour or simple tiredness. Confirm the day of the week, because Monday is dark, and confirm the start time against the rest of your plans for that day.

Read next: Victoria Falls Theatre: what to expect

Booking through Viator or direct

You can buy Simunye in two places: through Viator, which this guide links to, or from the production's own site, which lists its own adult and child prices and offers. This guide cannot say which is cheaper on a given day, so look at both before you pay. A Viator booking carries Viator's cancellation terms: everything back by cancelling a day or more before the scheduled start, and nothing after that. Buying direct means the production's own terms apply, so read them first and keep your confirmation somewhere you can find it on the night. Either way, you are watching the same production in the same theatre.

Arriving and getting in

The booking page asks guests to arrive a half hour or more ahead of the start. That leaves time to find the theatre at Elephants Walk, buy a drink and take your seat without rushing. Drinks bought at the theatre can be carried into the show when it begins. Taxis run to and from the theatre, which is in the centre of Victoria Falls, and public transport is also nearby, so you do not need to hire a car for the evening. If your hotel is within the town, a taxi both ways is the simplest plan. Bring your confirmation and the name the booking was made under, so the entrance goes quickly.

After the show: photos with the cast

When the performance ends, guests are welcomed on stage to take photos with the cast. The booking page puts this at roughly 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how many people want a picture. Build that into your night: if a dinner table or a taxi is waiting, allow for it. The photos are an extra, not part of the story, and nothing about the ticket requires you to stay. For many visitors the lingering part of the evening is simply the walk out into the warm dark of the town after an hour of storytelling. In a group, agree beforehand whether you will join the photographs or go straight out.

What to plan around the ticket

Food is not included, so decide whether you eat before or after the hour on stage. Wikipedia describes the town's central historic district as the home of its oldest hotels, restaurants and bars, which makes a meal near the theatre easy to arrange at either end. The evening works best with an unhurried plan: dinner sorted before the start or after the photos, and a taxi arranged for the end. Do not stack another timed activity directly after the show, because the photo session can run past the end of the performance. If you prefer to eat first, an early table is the safer choice.

How it compares with other evenings

Victoria Falls has several kinds of evening, and they are not interchangeable. A dinner show puts a meal at the centre and the performance around it. A river cruise puts you on the water at dusk. Simunye is a seated theatre production of about an hour, with food and drink bought separately. It pairs naturally with either of the others on a longer stay, because it asks for little time and little planning. Choose it when the story and the live performers are the reason you are going out, not the menu or the river. None of this ranks one above another; it describes what each asks of you.

Who the ticket suits

Wheelchair access is listed for the show; prams and strollers are fine for infants and small children; and the show is marked suitable for all physical fitness levels. Infants must sit on an adult's lap. It suits couples, families and friends who want one calm hour of storytelling, and travellers who have spent the day on the falls or the river and want an evening that asks little of them. It is also a gentle first introduction to southern African theatre for anyone who has not seen puppetry used for adults. Because the show is a single story told without a meal in the middle, it also works for mixed groups.

Who this isn't for

Simunye is the wrong ticket if you want dinner included, because food is a separate matter. It is not a wildlife outing: the elephant in the story is a character on stage. It is not a large spectacle either, as the theatre is small and the show runs for about an hour. And because the theatre is open to the sky, anyone who needs a roof against the weather should keep that in mind. Choose another evening if any of those is a deal-breaker, and come back to this one when you want a quiet hour of live performance. For the history of the falls or the town, a daytime visit and the guides on this site are a better fit.